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While America鈥檚 credit downgrade and rioting in London have grabbed the headlines, the financial crisis in the eurozone rumbles on.

The European Central Bank (ECB) moved Wednesday to buy Spanish and Italian bonds in the hope of staving off a spiral in debt costs or the need to bail out such large economies.

The move was widely viewed as a positive 鈥� if stopgap 鈥� measure, but market volatility continues.

Stocks across Europe have plunged amid worries that France is about to follow the US in losing its triple A-rating. The share dive, now affecting markets across the continent with France, Germany, and Spain slumping by more than five percent, is led by fears over bank solvency. Stock in France's Soci茅t茅 G茅n茅rale alone dropped by almost 15 percent, followed by BNP Paribas and Credit Agricole losing up to 10 percent of their value.

To help stem the crisis, a growing number of European officials are calling for a truly European Union-wide solution to the eurozone鈥檚 woes. Even some euroskeptics now agree that the common currency needs to be supported by common fiscal policies that prevent member states from accumulating too much debt and requiring bailouts.

But that hasn't dampened calls from critics who worry that centralizing EU fiscal policy would impinge on national sovereignty 鈥� and possibly even worsen the crisis. Such calls for "more Europe," they say, are all-too-typical 鈥� and deeply flawed.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 always the answer in Brussels,鈥� says Dan Hannan, a member of Britain鈥檚 eurosceptic governing Conservative Party and a British member of the European Parliament. 鈥淲hatever the question is, the answer is 鈥榤ore Europe.鈥� If there鈥檚 a rainy day in Eindhoven, the answer is 鈥榤ore Europe.鈥� The problem with [an EU-wide fiscal policy] is, you cannot jam countries with wildly divergent needs into the same exchange rates and interest rates.鈥�

A common fiscal policy?

While the euro is the de-facto EU currency, each of the eurozone鈥檚 seventeen constituent nation states sets its own fiscal policy.

Ireland鈥檚 famously low corporate tax rate of 12.5 percent, for instance, has attracted criticism from German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarokzy.

Thus far Ireland has refused to budge, with Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny last month dismissing calls for a 鈥渃ommon corporate tax base鈥� across the EU as 鈥渢ax harmonization by the back door.鈥�

'Europe is still sexy'

Last month, President of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, declared: 鈥�.鈥�

Mr. Van Rompuy said that the EU was in 鈥済ood shape鈥� as it continued to attract new members. But doubts remain about who would want to join the eurozone right now, particularly with unpopular austerity measures being imposed on Portugal, Ireland, and Greece in return for bailouts.

In June, ECB president Jean-Claude Trichet called for a single eurozone finance ministry to be created, a move that would centralize taxation and spending powers above the level of national governments.

'Eurobonds'

Such a move seems unlikely, but lesser calls are getting a hearing. Rather than just buying bonds issued by individual eurozone nations, as is happening now, many are calling for the ECB to issue its own 鈥渆urobonds.鈥�

Political integration is a logical outcome of currency union, says George Magnus, an economist with Swiss bank UBS who predicted the global economic crash.

鈥淲hat we鈥檝e learned from the eruption of this crisis 鈥� well it鈥檚 not really learning, we knew this before, that monetary union on its own probably doesn鈥檛 make a union of countries viable 鈥� is that you鈥檝e got to have some degree of integration of budgetary and fiscal policy, which speaks to some kind of political union as well," says Mr. Magnus. 鈥淚ntegration is clearly where the crisis is driving the eurozone. But it鈥檚 not clear to me, or, I don鈥檛 think, to anybody really, how far this process of integration will go.鈥�

One call for EU integration came from an unlikely source.

On Monday, British Finance Minister George Osborne called for closer fiscal ties within the eurozone, despite his country being outside the single currency.

鈥淓urozone countries need to accept the remorseless logic of monetary union that leads from a single currency to greater fiscal integration," wrote Mr. Osborne in the Daily Telegraph. "Solutions such as eurobonds now require serious consideration if investors are to be convinced about the long-term future of the currency.鈥�

Pan-EU taxes?

鈥淓urobonds鈥� are just one suggested method of stabilizing affairs 鈥� others include pan-European taxes and transforming the 鈧�440 billion ($625 billion) European Financial Stability Facility 鈥渂ailout fund鈥� into a more comprehensive European Monetary Fund valued at up to 鈧�2 trillion ($2.8 trillion) and complete with powers of national budgetary oversight 鈥� but they all hinge on countries ceding authority to Brussels.

Despite this, Professor Brian Lucey, economist at Trinity College Dublin, says 鈥渕ore Europe鈥� may not be popular, but it鈥檚 the only option.

鈥淚 think the only feasible answer is 鈥榤ore Europe,鈥� he says. "There are two poles: break-up of the euro is one, but too much has been invested politically for that to happen. The other, equally toxic politically, is a fully integrated Europe taking on a political composition like that of the US or perhaps Switzerland.鈥�

Mr. Lucey says tighter integration cannot be to the point of anything approaching statehood but that failure to recognize the need for fiscal integration is what is now being played-out.

鈥淭he euro should have been an outcome of greater fiscal co-ordination," says Lucey. "We put the cart before the horse. A horse can push a cart, but it doesn鈥檛 do it very well.鈥�